Survival of the Fittest
by Cookie Pixie
Summary: Nancy Makuhari is discharged from the hospital. One shot?


After reading all those shoujo-ai fanfics of Nancy _somehow_ surviving a rocket blast into space AND getting over her amnesia so she and Yomiko can have a relationship...  
  
...what if those authors had backed off and let things run their course?... 

* * *

"You're leaving?"  
Nancy looked up from her packing, or rather, her opening of a suitcase. She had few possessions to call her own - the hospital had provided everything.  
"The doctors thin that I should be able to live a normal life," the tall woman informed her friend. "They even arranged a part-time job for me, and a flat just a block away." She smiled. "And I'm very close to your apartment. Maybe I could visit you?"  
The visitor turned red at the thought of a stranger seeing her...disorganized place. "Ah...ano...maybe?"  
Nancy packed only a few things. A change of clothes and leather jacket she had 'practise' purchased on a monitored outing. She wasn't sure about her penchant for leather, but it did look good. A book and origami paper that had been presents from Yomiko. A framed photograph of herself - no, her sister. No one knew for sure if she was a twin or not, but it didn't matter too much - Yomiko had said that she had died saving the world. An extremely brave death.  
She wrapped the picture lovingly with a thin burgundy scarf, another memento of her _oneesan_, older sister. English was remembered in the blink of an eye, but Yomiko helped her through the odd recollected passage of Japanese.  
"_Oneesan...shini_," Nancy said to herself thoughfully. She looked up. "Yomiko, what does _shini_ mean?"  
Yomiko stiffened in the doorway. "Ano, _shini_?" she asked. "To die, or death."  
Nancy frowned. "_Arigato_," she pronounced carefully. Yomiko said that her Japanese was flawless, but Nancy still felt unsure. "Of all the words to remember..."  
There was an awkward silence, then Yomiko hurriedly filled in, "Ready to go?"  
"Almost," Nancy said.  
She reached into a drawer and took out a small black Beretta. Everyone had been (understandably) nervous at the thought of the amnesiac girl holding a gun, especially when she proved to be an expert markswoman, but Nancy had insisted. After all, Yomiko had said that she and her sister had been good at shooting.  
Shooting what, Nancy didn't really want to know.  
"Ready," smiled Nancy as she holstered her gun.  
  
"Miss Deep has gone home," Joker said politely to Gentleman. He and Yomiko had gone to Gentleman a day after Nancy's discharge and departure from the hospital to report on Nancy's successful reintegration into society. "She still shows no signs of remembering her past."  
"Good, good," commented Gentleman. He sipped his tea. "What does she remember?"  
"Yomiko?" Joker asked. Yomiko had been responsible for most of Nancy's rehabilitation.  
The smaller woman stepped forward. "Ano, Nancy remembers her...talents? Her guns, her tastes in clothing, her pride...I told her about her sister, and how she saved the world, but Nancy doesn't remember her."  
"So what has she been told about her memory loss, her role with the I-jin, if she asked," asked Gentleman.  
"I said...that she was brainwashed," Yomiko said lamely. "And that we found her in a pool of water, almost drowned, to explain the amnesia."  
"And...her abilities?" questioned Gentleman.  
"Nancy Makuhari showed no ability to pass through objects," Joker reported. "We assume that is is lost knowledge."  
Gentleman sat back, stroking his beard. "That is curious...as an I-jin and Miss Deep's clone her phasing ability was the most natural talent she had...yet she cannot do it?"  
"Gentleman-san, I told her about Nancy-san's power," Yomiko said, referring to her former partner. "She immediately tried it, but it didn't work."  
"It is impossible to teach Nancy how to phase if no one is available to teach it," remarked Joker. "And because Miss Deep never divulged how she had learned to use her power - "  
" - we cannot have Nancy teach herself," finished Gentleman. He sighed. "What a pity."  
"She could have rejoined the British Library as a Special Forces Agent - "  
"NO!" Yomiko yelled, cutting off Joker's remark. "Can't you see that Nancy is still trying to understand which parts of her are her and which are Nancy-san? What if she started remembering things while she was an Agent? She's already so confused and just started understanding what Nancy-san did! What if she thought...she thought you were only training her to replace Nancy-san?"  
The two men stared as Yomiko stalked out of the room.  
Finally Gentleman spoke up. "She does have a point."  
"I do hope that Yomiko's faith in Nancy isn't replaced though," Joker commented.  
  
Later that day Nancy was in a small cemetary for fallen Agents, dressed in dark purple and black clothes with a leather jacket. Her sister lay buried at her feet: "Nancy Makuhari, Special Forces Agent - Died in the line of duty." Below that was inscribed, "And she saved the world."  
Nancy smiled. As the British Library didn't know any other name for her, "Nancy" had naturally stuck. She had considered changing her name, now that she had an identity, but nothing sounded right.  
So Nancy Makuhari she was.  
The violet-haired woman regarded the marker beside her sister's. Unlike its neighbour's, it only bore two words.  
"Ikkyu. I-jin." The words sounded blunt and empty in Nancy's voice. "Why are you here, Ikkyu?"  
Nancy glanced around, noting that the cemetary, as usual, was empty. She looked back at the graves.  
"Traitorous woman."  
Nancy aimed a strong kick at her sister-clone's tombstone.  
It passed right through it. 

* * *

Yea. What'd'ya think? Please comment!  
  
By the way, Read or Die is my favourite animé. I'm sad that it's not listed on Fanfiction.net, but I'm also glad it's like that. It feels like a well-kept secret to me. *^.^* 


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